The present invention relates to aerosol emulsion spray cleaners that have been formulated to reduce residual tackiness and avoid visible residual film. Such formulations are particularly well suited to clean floors, walls and windows.
There have been a number of efforts to ease mopping and cleaning by mounting a container for a hard surface cleaning formulation on devices that have a mop head, cleaning brush, or the like (thus avoiding the need for a separate bucket containing the cleaning liquid). One such system is the Go Mop™ cleaning system marketed by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., embodiments of which are described in their U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,001 (the disclosure of this patent being incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein).
Some systems of this type mount an aerosol can containing the hard surface cleaner near the mop head. An actuator/trigger near the opposite end of a mop handle is designed to initiate the aerosol spray, thereby spraying the floor adjacent the attached mop head. While such devices are primarily useful for floor cleaning, they can also be used/adapted to clean vertical walls (e.g. shower enclosure walls) or windows.
Of course, aerosol spray cleaners have also been deliver without a remote activation system. For example, a Windex® aerosol spray is marketed by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., primarily for cleaning windows. The aerosol can is held directly in the hand of the consumer, with the can spray being initiated in well known fashion (e.g. by pressing an activator button that opens a spray valve and delivers the spray to the desired window or other associated room surface).
Of course, a cleaning formulation that is optimized to clean glass windows will not necessarily be optimized to clean certain other surfaces. The art has tried to develop a number of so-called “all purpose” hard surface cleaners which can be used on a variety of such hard surfaces, with reasonable efficiency. However, some (particularly floor cleaners) leave an undesirable visible film on the floor after use, requiring a separate rinsing step. Still others leave a tacky (albeit invisible) residue, again requiring a rinsing step for certain applications. Still others use ingredients that work quite well for one surface, but not suitable for certain sensitive surfaces.
Prior art multi-purpose formulations also sometimes required extra amounts of cleaner to achieve certain desired cleaning results, due to compromises that had been made in formulating for multiple applications. This is particularly problematic (e.g. overly costly) in the case of aerosol formulations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,406 an aerosol emulsion toilet bowl spray cleaner was disclosed having water, glycol ether, nonionic surfactant, isobutane propellant, anionic surfactant, and acid (sulphamic acid). Further, in connection with a variety of aerosol can applications it is known that the use of sodium nitrite (or sodium benzoate) in small quantities can act as a corrosion inhibitor. Also, the use of vinegar as an adjunct in a variety of hard surface cleaners is also well known.
In other work, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,022 described that low weight alcohols, such as isopropanol, and propylene glycol, along with polyalkoxylate block copolymers, had some desirable characteristics in hard surface cleaners designed for cleaning shower walls.
In still other work, U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,543 disclosed ethoxylated acetylenic glycol surfactants, such as an ethoxylated derivative of 2,4,7,9-tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol. However, it noted that they could suffer from certain wetting problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,872 described a variety of diphenyloxide disulfonate surfactants and hydrotropes having C1–C12 alkyl chains. However, that patent did not describe aerosol applications thereof.
In any event, there is a need to provide improved aerosol emulsion spray cleaners, particularly those having improved clarity and foaming characteristics on a wide variety of surfaces to be cleaned.